View source for Kenzaburō Ōe

{{Short description|Japanese writer (1935–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Kenzaburō Ōe
| native_name      = 大江 健三郎
| image            = Paris - Salon du livre 2012 - Kenzaburō Ōe - 003.jpg
| caption          = Ōe in 2012
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1935|01|31|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Ōse, Ehime]], Japan
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2023|03|03|1935|01|31|df=y}}
| death_place      = 
| education        = [[University of Tokyo]]
| occupation       = {{cslist|Novelist|short-story writer|essayist}}
| spouse           = {{marriage|Yukari Ikeuchi|1960}}
| children         = 3, including [[Hikari Oe|Hikari]]
| relatives        = {{ubl|[[Mansaku Itami]] (father-in-law)|[[Juzo Itami]] (brother-in-law)}}
| period           = 1957–2013
| notable_works    = {{ubl|''[[A Personal Matter]]'' (1964)|''[[The Silent Cry]]'' (1967)}}
| awards           = [[1994 Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize in Literature]] (1994)
}}
[[Image:oe kenzaburo japaninstitut koeln 041108.jpg|thumb|Ōe at the Japanisches Kulturinstitut in [[Cologne]] on 11 April 2008]]

{{nihongo|'''Kenzaburō Ōe'''|大江 健三郎|Ōe Kenzaburō|extra=31 January 1935 – 3 March 2023}} was a Japanese writer and a major figure in contemporary [[Japanese literature]]. His novels, short stories and essays, strongly influenced by French and American literature and [[literary theory]], deal with political, social and philosophical issues, including [[nuclear weapon]]s, [[nuclear power]], [[anticonformism|social non-conformism]], and [[existentialism]]. Ōe was awarded the [[1994 Nobel Prize in Literature]] for creating "an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today".<ref name="shimbun2008">[http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080518dy01.htm "Oe, Pamuk: World needs imagination"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531173154/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080518dy01.htm |date=31 May 2008 }}, Yomiuri.co.jp; 18 May 2008.</ref>

==Early life and education==
Ōe was born in {{nihongo|[[Ōse, Ehime|Ōse]]|大瀬村|Ōse-mura}}, a village now in [[Uchiko, Ehime|Uchiko, Ehime Prefecture]], on [[Shikoku]].<ref name="weston">{{cite book |last=Weston |first=Mark |url=https://archive.org/details/giantsofjapanliv00west/page/294 |title=Giants of Japan: The Lives of Japan's Most Influential Men and Women |publisher=Kodansha International |year=1999 |isbn=1-568362862 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/giantsofjapanliv00west/page/294 294–295, 299] |url-access=registration}}</ref> The third of seven children, he grew up listening to his grandmother, a storyteller of myths and folklore, who also recounted the oral history of the two uprisings in the region before and after the [[Meiji Restoration]].<ref name="The Nobel Prize" /><ref name="weston" /> His father, Kōtare Ōe, had a bark-stripping business; the bark was used to make paper currency.<ref name="weston" /> After his father died in the [[Pacific War]] in 1944, his mother, Koseki, became the driving force behind his education, buying him books including ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' and ''[[The Wonderful Adventures of Nils]]'', which had a formative influence on him.<ref name="The Nobel Prize" />

Ōe received the first ten years of his education in local public schools.<ref name="The Georgia Review 1995" /> He started school during the peak of [[Japanese militarism|militarism in Japan]]; in class, he was forced to pronounce his loyalty to Emperor [[Hirohito]], who his teacher claimed was a god.<ref name="weston" /> After the war, he realized he had been taught lies and felt betrayed. This sense of betrayal later appeared in his writing.<ref name="weston"/>

Ōe attended high school in [[Matsuyama, Ehime|Matsuyama]] from 1951 to 1953, where he excelled as a student.<ref name="The Georgia Review 1995" /><ref name="weston" /> At the age of 18, he made his first trip to Tokyo, where he studied at a prep school (''[[yobikō]]'') for one year.<ref name="The Georgia Review 1995" /><ref name="The Nobel Prize" /> The following year, he began studying French Literature at the [[Tokyo University|University of Tokyo]] with Professor Kazuo Watanabe, a specialist on [[François Rabelais]].<ref name="The Nobel Prize">{{Cite web |title=Kenzburo Oe – Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1994/oe/biographical/ |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Nobel Prize}}</ref>

== Career ==
Ōe began publishing stories in 1957, while still a student, strongly influenced by contemporary writing in France and the United States.<ref name="The Nobel Prize" /> He was particularly influenced by the writings of [[Jean-Paul Sartre]].<ref>{{cite web |title=In the forest of the soul: Oe Kenzaburo at 70 |url=https://apjjf.org/maya-jaggi/1742/article |website=Asia-Pacific Journal |date=28 March 2005 |access-date=14 December 2024}}</ref> His first work to be published was "{{ill|Lavish are the Dead|ja|死者の奢り}}", a short story set in Tokyo during the American occupation, which appeared in ''[[Bungakukai]]'' literary magazine.<ref name="Benoza 2023">{{Cite news |last=Benoza |first=Kathleen |date=13 March 2023 |title=Nobel-winning Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe dies at 88 |work=[[The Japan Times]] |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/13/national/kenzaburo-oe-obit/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230313155510/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/13/national/kenzaburo-oe-obit/ |archive-date=13 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> His early works were set in his own university milieu.<ref name="wilson12">{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Michiko N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jhGkLyWN8cC&q=he+Marginal+World+of+%25C5%258Ce+Kenzabur%25C5%258D:+A+Study+in+Themes+and+Techniques++ISBN|title=The Marginal World of Oe Kenzaburo|date=1986|publisher=M. E. Sharpe Incorporated|isbn=978-0-7656-3564-8|language=en |page=12}}</ref>

In 1958, his short story "Shiiku" (飼育) was awarded the prestigious [[Akutagawa Prize]].<ref name="Benoza 2023" /> The work was about a black GI set upon by Japanese youth, and was later made into a film, ''The Catch'' by [[Nagisa Oshima]] in 1961.<ref name="wilson12" /> Another early novella, later translated as ''[[Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids]]'', focused on young children living in [[Arcadia (utopia)|Arcadia]]n transformations of Ōe's own rural [[Shikoku]] childhood.<ref name="wilson12" /> Ōe identified these child figures as belonging to the '[[Child (archetype)|child god]]' [[archetype]] of [[Carl Jung|Jung]] and [[Karl Kerényi|Kerényi]], which is characterised by abandonment, [[hermaphrodism]], invincibility, and association with beginning and end.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oe |first=Kenzaburo |title=Shōsetsu no hōhō (The Method of a Novel) |publisher=Iwanami |year=1978 |location=Tokyo |pages=197 |language=ja}}</ref> The first two characteristics are present in these early stories, while the latter two features come to the fore in the 'idiot boy' stories which appeared after the birth of his son Hikari.<ref name="Wilson 1986">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Michiko N. |title=The Marginal World of Ōe Kenzaburō: A Study in Themes and Techniques |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-87332-343-7 |location=Armonk, New York}}</ref>{{Rp|page=135}}

Between 1958 and 1961 Ōe published a series of works incorporating sexual metaphors for the occupation of Japan. He summarised the common theme of these stories as "the relationship of a foreigner as the big power [Z], a Japanese who is more or less placed in a humiliating position [X], and, sandwiched between the two, the third party [Y] (sometimes a prostitute who caters only to foreigners or an interpreter)".<ref>Ōe, ''Ōe Kenzaburō Zensakuhin'', Vol. 2 (Supplement No. 3). p. 16.</ref> In each of these works, the Japanese X is inactive, failing to take the initiative to resolve the situation and showing no psychological or spiritual development.<ref name="Wilson 1986" />{{Rp|page=32}} The graphically sexual nature of this group of stories prompted a critical outcry; Ōe said of the culmination of the series ''Our Times'', "I personally like this novel [because] I do not think I will ever write another novel which is filled only with sexual words."<ref name="Wilson 1986" />{{Rp|page=29}}

In 1961, Ōe's novellas ''Seventeen'' and ''The Death of a Political Youth'' were published in the Japanese literary magazine ''Bungakukai''. Both were inspired by seventeen-year-old [[Yamaguchi Otoya]], who had assassinated [[Japan Socialist Party]] chairman [[Inejirō Asanuma]] in October 1960, and then killed himself in prison three weeks later.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ|title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2018|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0674984424|pages=254, 257}}</ref> Yamaguchi had admirers among the extreme right wing who were angered by ''The Death of a Political Youth'' and both Ōe and the magazine received [[death threat]]s day and night for weeks. The magazine soon apologized to offended readers, but Ōe did not,<ref name="weston" /> and he was later physically assaulted by an angry right-winger while giving a speech at the [[Tokyo University|University of Tokyo]].<ref name="Jaggi">{{Cite web |last=Jaggi |first=Maya |date=5 February 2005 |title=Profile: Kenzaburo Oë |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview9 |access-date=22 November 2015 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

Ōe's next phase moved away from sexual content, shifting this time toward the violent fringes of society. The works which he published between 1961 and 1964 are influenced by [[existentialism]] and [[picaresque]] literature, populated with more or less criminal rogues and [[anti-heroes]] whose position on the fringes of society allows them to make pointed criticisms of it.<ref name="Wilson 1986" />{{Rp|page=47}} Ōe's admission that Mark Twain's ''[[Huckleberry Finn]]'' is his favorite book can be said to find a context in this period.<ref>Theroux, Paul. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10A12FD3F5A17768FDDA10894DA405B808BF1D3 "Speaking of Books: Creative Dissertating; Creative Dissertating"], nytimes.com, 8 February 1970.</ref>

===Influence of Hikari===
[[File:The Healing Family Kenzaburo Oe.jpg|thumb|right|Book cover of the 1996 English version of Kenzaburō Ōe's book about his handicapped son and their life as a family.]]
Ōe credited [[Hikari Ōe|his son Hikari]] for influencing his literary career. Ōe tried to give his son a "voice" through his writing. Several of Ōe's books feature a character based on his son.<ref>[http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/edpsychology/nav03.cfm?nav03=18675&nav02=14211&nav01=13954 Sobsey, Richard] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701005232/http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/edpsychology/nav03.cfm?nav03=18675&nav02=14211&nav01=13954|date=1 July 2009}}. [http://www.chninternational.com/hikarich.htm "Hikari Finds His Voice,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606170224/http://www.chninternational.com/hikarich.htm|date=6 June 2007}} Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), produced by Compassionate Healthcare Network (CHN). July 1995.</ref>

In Ōe's 1964 book, ''A Personal Matter'', the writer describes the psychological trauma involved in accepting his brain-damaged son into his life.<ref name="The Nobel Prize" /> Hikari figures prominently in many of the books singled out for praise by the Nobel committee, and his life is the core of the first book published after Ōe was awarded the Nobel Prize. The 1996 book, ''A Healing Family,'' is a memoir written as a collection of essays.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kenzaburo-oe/a-healing-family/ |title=A Healing Family |website=Kirkus |year=1996 |access-date=2023-06-23}}</ref>

===2006 to 2008===
In 2005, two retired Japanese military officers sued Ōe for [[libel]] for his 1970 book of essays, ''Okinawa Notes'', in which he had written that members of the Japanese military had coerced masses of Okinawan civilians into committing suicide during the [[Battle of Okinawa|Allied invasion of the island]] in 1945. In March 2008, the [[Osaka]] District Court dismissed all charges against Ōe. In this ruling, Judge Toshimasa Fukami stated, "The military was deeply involved in the [[mass suicide]]s". In a news conference following the trial, Ōe said, "The judge accurately read my writing."<ref name="Onishi 2008">{{Cite news |last=Onishi |first=Norimitsu |author-link=Norimitsu Onishi |date=29 March 2008 |title=Japanese Court Rejects Defamation Lawsuit Against Nobel Laureate |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/world/asia/29japan.html |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>

Ōe did not write much during the nearly two years (2006–2008) of his libel case. He began writing a new novel, which ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported would feature a character "based on his father," a staunch supporter of the imperial system who drowned in a flood during World War&nbsp;II.<ref name="The Saturday Profile">{{cite web |author=Onishi, Norimitsu |author-link=Norimitsu Onishi |date=17 May 2008 |title=The Saturday Profile: Released From Rigors of a Trial, a Nobel Laureate's Ink Flows Freely |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/asia/17oe.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss |access-date=9 November 2019 |work=New York Times}}</ref> ''[[Death by Water (novel)|Death by Water]]'' was published in 2009.

===2013===
''Bannen Yoshikishu'', his final novel, is the sixth in a series with the main character of Kogito Choko, who can be considered Ōe's literary alter ego. The novel is also in a sense a culmination of the I-novels that Ōe continued to write since his son was born developmentally disabled in 1963. In the novel, Choko loses interest in the novel he had been writing when the [[Great East Japan earthquake]] and tsunami struck the [[Tohoku]] region on 11 March 2011. Instead, he begins writing about an age of catastrophe, as well as about the fact that he himself was approaching his late 70s.<ref name="latest">{{cite web |title=Oe's latest novel offers glimmer of hope in a world beset by catastrophe |url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/culture/AJ201312160006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216190527/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/culture/AJ201312160006 |archive-date=16 December 2013 |access-date=16 December 2013}}</ref>

== Activism ==
In 1959 and 1960, Ōe participated in the [[Anpo protests]] against the [[U.S.-Japan Security Treaty]] as a member of a group of young writers, artists, and composers called the "Young Japan Society" (''Wakai Nihon no Kai'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kapur |first=Nick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ |title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0674984424 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=177}}</ref> The treaty allowed the United States to maintain military bases in Japan, and Ōe's disappointment at the failure of the protests to stop the treaty shaped his future writing.<ref name="Jaggi" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kapur |first=Nick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ |title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0674984424 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=216}}</ref>[[File:手話通訳 (8930900696).jpg|thumb|Ōe at a 2013 antinuclear demonstration in Tokyo]]
Ōe was involved with pacifist and anti-nuclear campaigns and wrote books regarding the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] and the [[Hibakusha]], most prominently the essay collection ''[[Hiroshima Notes]]'' (1965). After meeting prominent American anti-nuclear activist [[Noam Chomsky]] at a Harvard degree ceremony, Ōe began his correspondence with Chomsky by sending him a copy of his ''Okinawa Notes''. While also discussing Ōe's ''Okinawa Notes'', Chomsky's reply included a story from his childhood. Chomsky wrote that when he first heard about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he could not bear it being celebrated, and he went in the woods and sat alone until the evening.<ref>Oe, K., & Chomsky, N. (2002). An Exchange on Current Affairs. World Literature Today,76(2), 29. {{doi|10.2307/40157257}}, 29 April 2019</ref> Ōe later said in an interview, "I've always respected Chomsky, but I respected him even more after he told me that."<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|date=2007|first=Sarah |last=Fay |title=The Art of Fiction No. 195|language=en|volume=Winter 2007|issue=183|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5816/the-art-of-fiction-no-195-kenzaburo-oe|access-date=16 March 2023|issn=0031-2037}}</ref>

In a 2007 interview with [[The Paris Review]], Ōe described himself as an [[Anarchism|anarchist]]. Stating: "In principle, I am an anarchist. [[Kurt Vonnegut]] once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007 |title=The Art of Fiction No. 195 |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5816/the-art-of-fiction-no-195-kenzaburo-oe |access-date=2024-08-07 |language=en |volume=Winter 2007 |issue=183 |issn=0031-2037}}</ref>

Following the 2011 [[Fukushima nuclear disaster]], he urged Prime Minister [[Yoshihiko Noda]] to "halt plans to restart nuclear power plants and instead abandon nuclear energy".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110908a5.html |title=Nobel laureate Oe urges nation to end reliance on nuclear power |date=8 September 2011 |work=The Japan Times }}</ref> Ōe said Japan has an "ethical responsibility" to abandon nuclear power in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, just as it renounced war under its postwar [[Constitution of Japan|Constitution]]. He called for "an immediate end to nuclear power generation and warned that Japan would suffer another nuclear catastrophe if it tries to resume nuclear power plant operations". In 2013, he organized a mass demonstration in Tokyo against nuclear power.<ref>http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130915p2g00m0dm013000c.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110214635/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130915p2g00m0dm013000c.html |date=10 November 2013 }} ''[[Mainichi Shimbun|Mainichi Daily News]]'', 15 September 2013, "Some 8,000 March in Tokyo Against Restart of Any Nuclear Power Plants" (accessed 10 November 2013)</ref> Ōe also criticized moves to amend [[Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan|Article 9]] of the Constitution, which forever renounces war.<ref>http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201305180039 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109060814/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201305180039 |date=9 November 2013 }} ''Asahi Shumbun'', 18 May 2013, "Writer Oe calls for stopping moves to revise Constitution" (accessed 9 November 2013)</ref>

In 2015, Ōe stated that he believed that the Japanese government had not adequately acknowledged or apologized for the [[comfort women]] issue.<ref>{{Cite news |last=임 |first=광빈 |date=2015-03-14 |title='노벨상 작가' 오에 겐자부로, "군 위안부 문제 사죄해야" |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/MYH20150314001600038 |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko}}</ref>

== Personal life and death ==
Ōe married in February 1960. His wife, Yukari, was the daughter of film director [[Mansaku Itami]] and sister of film director [[Juzo Itami]]. The same year he met [[Mao Zedong]] on a trip to China. He also went to Russia and Europe the following year, visiting [[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre]] in Paris.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Jaggi" />

Ōe lived in Tokyo and had three children.<ref name="Lewis 2023" /> In 1963, his eldest son, [[Hikari Ōe|Hikari]], was born with a [[Brain herniation|brain hernia]].<ref name="BBC News 2023" /> Ōe initially struggled to accept his son's condition, which required surgery which would leave him with learning disabilities for life.<ref name="Lewis 2023" /> Hikari lived with Kenzaburō and Yukari until he was middle-aged, and often composed music in the same room where his father was writing.<ref name="Lewis 2023" />

Ōe died on 3 March 2023 at the age of 88, reportedly due to [[manner of death#natural causes of death|old age]].<ref name="Lewis 2023">{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Daniel |date=13 March 2023 |title=Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Laureate and Critic of Postwar Japan, Dies at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/books/kenzaburo-oe-dead.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230313134526/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/books/kenzaburo-oe-dead.html |archive-date=13 March 2023 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Cain |first=Sian |date=13 March 2023 |title=Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel prize-winning Japanese writer, dies aged 88 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/13/kenzaburo-oe-nobel-prize-winning-japanese-writer-dies |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230313155759/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/13/kenzaburo-oe-nobel-prize-winning-japanese-writer-dies |archive-date=13 March 2023 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name="BBC News 2023">{{cite web |date=13 March 2023 |title=Nobel prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe dies |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64938314 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313110126/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64938314 |archive-date=13 March 2023 |website=[[BBC News]]}}</ref><ref name="Benoza 2023" />

==Honors==

=== Nobel Prize in Literature and Japan's Order of Culture ===
In 1994 Ōe won the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] and was named to receive Japan's [[Order of Culture]]. He refused the latter because it is bestowed by the [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]]. Ōe said, "I do not recognize any authority, any value, higher than democracy." Once again, he received threats.<ref name="weston" />

Shortly after learning that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize, Ōe said that he was encouraged by the Swedish Academy's recognition of modern Japanese literature, and hoped that it would inspire other writers.<ref name="nyt1994" /> He told ''[[The New York Times]]'' that his writing was ultimately focused on "the dignity of human beings."<ref name="nyt1994">{{Cite news|last=Sterngold|first=James|date=14 October 1994|title=Nobel in Literature Goes to Kenzaburo Oe of Japan|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/14/books/nobel-in-literature-goes-to-kenzaburo-oe-of-japan-526100.html|access-date=16 March 2023|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Major awards ===
* Tokyo University May Festival Prize, 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Michiko Niikuni |title=Kenzaburo Oe: Laughing Prophet and Soulful Healer |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1994/oe/article/ |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Nobel Prize}}</ref>
* [[Akutagawa Prize]], 1958.<ref name="wilson12" />
* [[Shinchosha Literary Prize]], 1964.<ref name="Grove Atlantic">{{Cite web |title=Authors – Kenzaburo Oe |url=https://groveatlantic.com/author/kenzaburo-oe/ |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=Grove Atlantic}}</ref>
* [[Tanizaki Prize]], 1967.<ref name="Grove Atlantic" />
* [[Noma Prize (Liberacy)|Noma Prize]], 1973.<ref name="Grove Atlantic" />
* [[Yomiuri Prize]], 1982.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fowler |first=Edward |url=http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k400349/ |title=The Rhetoric of Confession |publisher=University of California Press |year=1988 |location=Berkeley |page=295}}</ref>
* [[Jiro Osaragi Prize]] (''[[Asahi Shimbun]]''), 1983.<ref name="Grove Atlantic" />
* [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], 1994.<ref name="nyt1994"/>
* [[Order of Culture]], 1994 – refused.<ref name="nyt2008">{{Cite news|last=Onishi|first=Norimitsu|date=17 May 2008|title=Released From Rigors of a Trial, a Nobel Laureate's Ink Flows Freely|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/asia/17oe.html|access-date=16 March 2023|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Grove Atlantic" />
* Knight of the [[Legion of Honour]] (France, 2002).<ref>{{Cite web|title = Novelist Oe inducted into France's Legion of Honor. – Free Online Library|url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Novelist+Oe+inducted+into+France's+Legion+of+Honor.-a086465288|website = www.thefreelibrary.com|access-date = 28 January 2016}}</ref>
* Commander of the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Order of Arts and Letters]] (France, 2012)<ref>{{Cite web|title = Déclaration de M. Frédéric Mitterrand, ministre de la culture et de la communication, sur le livre et la lecture et la coopération culturelle entre la France et le Japon, Paris le 16 mars 2012|url = https://www.vie-publique.fr/discours/184766-frederic-mitterrand-16032012-livre-cooperation-culturelle-avec-le-japon|access-date = 16 March 2012}}</ref>

=== Eponymous literary prize ===
In 2005, the [[Kenzaburō Ōe Prize]] was established by publisher [[Kodansha]] to promote Japanese literary novels internationally,<ref name="The Japan Times 2005">{{Cite news |date=6 October 2005 |title=Kodansha creates Kenzaburo Oe literary award |work=The Japan Times |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/10/06/national/kodansha-creates-kenzaburo-oe-literary-award/ |access-date=14 March 2023}}</ref> with the first prize awarded in 2007.<ref name="Kodansha">{{Cite web |title=大江健三郎賞 |url=http://www.kodansha.co.jp/kaigai/ooe/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517235951/http://www.kodansha.co.jp/kaigai/ooe/index.html |archive-date=17 May 2007 |website=Kodansha |language=Japanese}}</ref> The winning work was selected solely by Ōe,<ref name="The Japan Times 2005" /> to be translated into English, French, or German, and published worldwide.<ref name="Kodansha" />

==Selected works==
The number of Kenzaburō Ōe's works translated into English and other languages remains limited, so that much of his literary output is still only available in Japanese.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/oe.htm |title=Kenzaburo Ōe |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210175324/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/oe.htm |archive-date=10 February 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The few translations have often appeared after a marked lag in time.<ref name=Tayler>{{Cite news|last=Tayler|first=Christopher|date=11 June 2010|title=The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe|language=en-GB|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/12/the-changeling-kenzaburo-oe-review|access-date=16 March 2023|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Works of his have also been translated into [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[French language|French]], and [[German language|German]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Embracing Foreign Literature |website=[[Beijing Review]]|url=http://www.bjreview.com/nation/txt/2009-02/13/content_178235.htm|access-date=16 March 2023 |last=Jing |first=Xiaolei |date=13 February 2009}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
! Year
! Japanese Title
! English Title
! Comments
!Ref.
|-
| rowspan="3" |1957
|死者の奢り<br />''Shisha no ogori''
|''Lavish Are The Dead''
|Short story published in ''[[Bungakukai]]'' literary magazine
|<ref name="Benoza 2023" />
|-
| 奇妙な仕事<br />''Kimyō na shigoto''
| ''The Strange Work''
| Short novel awarded May Festival Prize by University of Tokyo newspaper
|<ref name="Asahi Shimbun 2023">{{Cite news |date=13 March 2023 |title=Nobel-winning anti-war author Kenzaburo Oe dies at 88 |work=Asahi Shimbun |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14860302 |access-date=13 March 2023 }}</ref>
|-
| 飼育<br />''Shiiku''
| "The Catch" / "Prize Stock"
| Short story awarded the Akutagawa prize. Published in English as "Prize Stock" in ''Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness'' (1977) and as "The Catch" in "The Catch and Other War Stories" (Kodansha International 1981).
Made into a film in 1961 by [[Nagisa Oshima]] and in 2011 by the Cambodian director [[Rithy Panh]].
|<ref name="Asahi Shimbun 2023" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Kenzburo Oe – Bibliography|website=The Nobel Prize|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1994/oe/bibliography/|access-date=14 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bingham |first=Adam |date=Winter 2010 |title=Oshima's Outlaw Sixties |work=Cineaste |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=505378635&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=14 March 2023 |via=[[EBSCOHost]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | date=20 November 2011 |title=[Review] The Catch |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2011/film/reviews/the-catch-2-1117946623/ |access-date=14 March 2023}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1958
| 見るまえに跳べ<br />''Miru mae ni tobe''
| ''Leap Before You Look''
| Short story; title is a reference to [[W. H. Auden]]
| <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hillenbrand |first=Margaret |date=Summer 2007 |title=Doppelgängers, Misogyny, and the San Francisco System: The Occupation Narratives of Ōe Kenzaburō |journal=The Journal of Japanese Studies |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=383–414|doi=10.1353/jjs.2007.0061 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25064725 |access-date=15 March 2023 |jstor=25064725|s2cid=144812230 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Sakurai 1984" />
|-
| 芽むしり仔撃ち<br />''Memushiri kouchi''
| ''[[Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids]]''
| One of his earliest novellas, translated in 1995
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ryan |first=Marleigh Grayer |date=Spring 2002 |title='And a Little Child Shall Lead Them': The Agency of the Innocent in an Early Story by Ōe Kenzaburō |journal=World Literature Today |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=49–47 |doi=10.2307/40157259 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40157259 |access-date=15 March 2023 |jstor=40157259|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1961
| セヴンティーン<br />''Sevuntiin''
| ''Seventeen''
| Short novel translated by Luk Van Haute in 1996. The sequel was so controversial that Ōe never allowed it to be republished.
|<ref name="Goff 1997">{{Cite journal |last=Goff |first=Janet |date=January–March 1997 |title=Two Novels: Seventeen & J |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/234917125 |journal=Japan Quarterly |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=102–103 |id={{ProQuest|234917125}}}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1963
| 叫び声<br />''Sakebigoe''
| ''Outcries''
|Untranslated
|<ref name="Reinsma 1998">{{Cite journal |last=Reinsma |first=Luke M. |date=Autumn 1998 |title=The Flight of Kenzaburo Oe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44314194 |journal=Christianity and Literature |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=61–77 |doi=10.1177/014833319804800107 |jstor=44314194|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 性的人間 <br />''Seiteki ningen''
| ''J'' (published title)
''Sexual Humans'' (literal translation)
| Short story translated by Luk Van Haute in 1996
|<ref name="Goff 1997" />
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1964
| 空の怪物アグイー<br />''Sora no kaibutsu Aguī''
| ''[[Aghwee the Sky Monster]]''
| Short story translated by [[John Nathan]].
|<ref name="Wilson 1981">{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Michiko N. |date=Winter 1981 |title=Oe's Obsessive Metaphor, Mori, the Idiot Son: Toward the Imagination of Satire, Regeneration, and Grotesque Realism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/132164 |journal=The Journal of Japanese Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=23–52 |doi=10.2307/132164 |jstor=132164|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 個人的な体験<br />''Kojinteki na taiken''
| ''[[A Personal Matter]]''
| Awarded the Shinchosha Literary Prize. Translated by John Nathan.
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rodden |first=John |date=Summer 2002 |title=Team play: Translator John Nathan on Oe Kenzaburo, the 1994 Nobel Prize winner |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/195704728 |journal=The Midwest Quarterly |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=281–297 |id={{ProQuest|195704728}}}}</ref>
|-
|1965
| ヒロシマ・ノート<br />''Hiroshima nōto''
| ''[[Hiroshima Notes]]''
| Collection of essays translated by Toshi Yonezawa and edited by David L. Swain
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Treat |first=John Whittier |date=June 1987 |title=Hiroshima Nōto and Ōe Kenzaburō's Existentialist Other |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2719159 |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=97–136 |doi=10.2307/2719159 |jstor=2719159|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1967
| 万延元年のフットボール<br />''Man'en gan'nen no futtobōru''
| ''[[The Silent Cry]]'' (published title)
''Football in the Year 1860'' (literal translation)
| Translated by John Bester
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loughman |first=Celeste |date=Summer 1999 |title=The Seamless Universe of Oe Kenzaburo |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40154866 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=417–422 |jstor=40154866}}</ref><ref name="Sakurai 1984">{{Cite journal |last=Sakurai |first=Emiko |date=Summer 1984 |title=Kenzaburō Ōe: The Early Years |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40139376 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=370–373 |doi=10.2307/40139376 |jstor=40139376|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1969
| われらの狂気を生き延びる道を教えよ<br />''Warera no kyōki wo ikinobiru michi wo oshieyo''
| ''Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness''
| Translated by John Nathan in 1977; title is a reference to W. H. Auden
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sakurai |first=Emiko |date=Spring 1978 |title=[Review] Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kenzaburo Ōé, John Nathan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40132987 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=52 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/40132987 |jstor=40132987|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Sakurai 1984" />
|-
|1970
| 沖縄ノート<br />''Okinawa nōto''
| ''Okinawa Notes''
| Collection of essays that became the target of a defamation lawsuit filed in 2005 which was dismissed in 2008
|<ref name="Onishi 2008" />
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1972
| 鯨の死滅する日<br />''Kujira no shimetsu suru hi''
| ''The Day the Whales Shall be Annihilated''
| Collection of essays including "The Continuity of [[Norman Mailer]]"
|<ref name="Wilson 1981" />
|-
| みずから我が涙をぬぐいたまう日<br />''Mizukara waga namida wo nuguitamau hi''
| ''[[The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away]]''
|Short novel parodying [[Yukio Mishima]]; translated by John Nathan and published in the volume ''Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness''
|<ref name="Sakurai 1984" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iwamoto |first=Yoshio |date=April 1979 |title=[Review] Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kenzaburô Ôe and John Nathan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/489541 |journal=The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=66–83 |doi=10.2307/489541 |jstor=489541|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
|1973
| 洪水はわが魂に及び<br />''Kōzui wa waga tamashii ni oyobi''
| ''My Deluged Soul''
| Awarded the 26th [[Noma Literary Prize]]. Work has also been referred to as ''The Waters Are Come in unto My Soul.''
|<ref name="The Nobel Prize" /><ref name="Wilson 1981" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=洪水はわが魂に及び |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/洪水はわが魂に及び-1696134 |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=Kotobank |language=Japanese}}</ref>
|-
| 1976
| ピンチランナー調書<br />''Pinchi ran'nā chōsho''
| ''[[The Pinch Runner Memorandum]]''
|Translated by Michiko N. Wilson and Michael K. Wilson
|<ref name="The Georgia Review 1995">{{Cite journal |date=Spring 1995 |title=[Introduction] Kenzaburo Ōe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41401647 |journal=The Georgia Review |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=331–334 |jstor=41401647}}</ref>
|-
| 1979
| 同時代ゲーム <br />''Dōjidai gēmu''
| ''[[The Game of Contemporaneity]]''
|Untranslated
|<ref name="Napier 1993">{{Cite journal |last=Napier |first=Susan J. |author-link=Susan J. Napier |date=December 1993 |title=Marginal Arcadias: Ōe Kenzaburō's Pastoral and Antipastoral |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42800128 |journal=Review of Japanese Culture and Society |volume=5 |pages=48–58 |jstor=42800128}}</ref>
|-
| 1982
| 「雨の木」を聴く女たち <br /> ''Rein tsurī wo kiku on'natachi''
| ''Women Listening to the "Rain Tree"''
| Collection of two short stories and three novellas. Awarded the 34th [[Yomiuri Prize|Yomiuri Literary Prize]] for novels.
|<ref name="Yoshida 1995">{{Cite journal |last=Yoshida |first=Sanroku |date=Winter 1995 |title=The Burning Tree: The Spatialized World of Kenzaburō Ōe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40150850 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=10–16 |doi=10.2307/40150850 |jstor=40150850|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=「雨の木」を聴く女たち |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/「雨の木」を聴く女たち-1718425 |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=Kotobank |language=Japanese}}</ref>
|-
| 1983
| 新しい人よ眼ざめよ<br />''Atarashii hito yo, mezameyo''
| ''[[Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age!]]''
| Collection of seven short stories originally published in ''Gunzo'' and ''Shincho'' magazines between 1982 and 1983. The title is taken from the preface to the poem [[Milton: A Poem in Two Books|''Milton'']] by [[William Blake]]. Awarded the 10th Jiro Osaragi Prize. Translated by John Nathan.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=新しい人よ眼ざめよ |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/新しい人よ眼ざめよ-1715906 |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=Kotobank |language=Japanese}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thwaite |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Thwaite |date=28 July 2002 |title=Eternity in an hour |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4728372/Eternity-in-an-hour.html  |website=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nathan |first1=John |last2=Oe |first2=Kenzaburo |date=Winter 1996 |title=A Mythical Topos: A Dialogue |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25007957 |journal=Grand Street |issue=55 |pages=39–46 |doi=10.2307/25007957 |jstor=25007957|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1985
| 河馬に嚙まれる<br />''Kaba ni kamareru''
| ''Bitten by a Hippopotamus''
| Eight short stories, loosely linked
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nishi |first=Kinya |date=Summer 2022 |title=The Dialectics of Realist Imagination: Adorno's Aesthetics and Contemporary Japanese Fiction |url=http://jcla.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/JCLA-45.2-Suppl._Kinya-Nishi.pdf |journal=Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=85–96}}</ref>
|-
| 1986
| M/Tと森のフシギの物語<br />''M/T to mori no fushigi no monogatari''
|''[[M/T and the Narrative About the Marvels of the Forest|M/T and the Wonder of the Forest]]''
|Title has also been translated as ''Strange Stories of M/T and the Forest''
|<ref name="Yoshida 1995" /><ref name="Napier 1993" />
|-
| 1987
| 懐かしい年への手紙<br />''Natsukashī toshi e no tegami''
|''Letters to the Time/Space of Fond Memories''
|Autobiographical novel
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yoshida |first=Sanroku |date=Summer 1988 |title=[Review] Natsukashii toshi e no tegami by Ōe Kenzaburō |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40144480 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=510–511 |doi=10.2307/40144480 |jstor=40144480|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1988
| 「最後の小説」<br />''Saigo no shōsetsu''
| ''The Last Novel''
| Collection of essays
|<ref name="The Georgia Review 1995" />
|-
| 1989
| 人生の親戚<br />''Jinsei no shinseki''
| ''An Echo of Heaven'' (published title)
''Relatives of Life'' (literal translation)
| Translated by Margaret Mitsutani
|<ref name="Reinsma 1998" />
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1990
| 治療塔<br />''Chiryō tō''
| ''Towers of Healing''
|Novel first serialized in ''Hermes'' magazine; first work of science fiction
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yoshida |first=Sanroku |date=Spring 1991 |title=[Review] Chiryō-tō by Ōe Kenzaburō |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40147320 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=65 |issue=2 |page=368 |doi=10.2307/40147320 |jstor=40147320|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 静かな生活<br />''Shizuka na seikatsu''
| ''A Quiet Life''
|Translated by Kunioki Yanagishita & William Wetherall
|<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morley |first=John David |date=17 November 1996 |title=Her Brother's Keeper |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/nnp/oe-quiet.html?scp=80&sq=child%2520molester&st=cse |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 1991
| 治療塔惑星<br />''Chiryō tō wakusei''
| ''Planet of the Healing Tower''
|Science fiction novel paired with ''Chiryō tō''
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bolton |first1=Christopher |last2=Komatsu |first2=Sakyō |last3=Napier |first3=Susan J. |author3-link=Susan J. Napier |last4=Tatsumi |first4=Takayuki |last5=Kotani |first5=Mari |last6=Otobe |first6=Junko |date=November 2002 |title=An Interview with Komatsu Sakyō |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4241102 |journal=Science Fiction Studies |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=323–339 |doi=10.1525/sfs.29.3.0323 |jstor=4241102|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1992
| 僕が本当に若かった頃<br />''Boku ga hontō ni wakakatta koro''
| ''When I Was Really Young''
|Volume of nine vignettes, many of which refer to his previous works
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iwamoto |first=Yoshio |date=Spring 1993 |title=[Review] Boku ga hontō ni wakakatta koro by Ōe Kenzaburō |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40149314 |journal=World Literature Today |volume=67 |issue=2 |page=451 |doi=10.2307/40149314 |jstor=40149314|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1993
|「救い主」が殴られるまで<br />'' 'Sukuinushi' ga nagurareru made''
| ''Until the Savior Gets Beaten''
| Part I of ''The Burning Green Tree Trilogy'' (燃えあがる緑の木 第一部, ''Moeagaru midori no ki'' – dai ichibu)
|<ref name="Yoshida 1995" />
|-
| 1994
| 揺れ動く (ヴァシレーション)<br />''Yureugoku (Vashirēshon)''
| ''Vacillation''
| Part II of ''The Burning Green Tree Trilogy'' (燃えあがる緑の木 第二部, ''Moeagaru midori no ki – dai nibu'')
|<ref name="Yoshida 1995" />
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1995
| 大いなる日に<br />''Ōinaru hi ni''
| ''For the Day of Grandeur''
| Part III of ''The Burning Green Tree Trilogy'' (燃えあがる緑の木 第三部, ''Moeagaru midori no ki – dai sanbu)''
|<ref name="Yoshida 1995" />
|-
| 曖昧な日本の私<br />''Aimai na Nihon no watashi''
| ''Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself''
| Nobel Prize acceptance speech; the title is a reference to [[Yasunari Kawabata]]'s Nobel acceptance speech, "Japan, the Beautiful, and Myself". In 1995, nine lectures given by Ōe in the 1990s were published in the same volume with this title.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=あいまいな日本の私 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/あいまいな日本の私-1715854 |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=Kotobank |language=Japanese}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oe |first=Kenzaburo |date=Winter 1995 |title=Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20635813 |journal=The Australian Quarterly |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.2307/20635813 |jstor=20635813|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 恢復する家族<br />''Kaifukusuru kazoku''
| ''A Healing Family''
| Collection of essays serialized from 1990 to 1995 in ''Sawarabi'', a journal on rehabilitative medicine, with an afterword and drawings by Yukari Oe. Adapted and translated in 1996 by Stephen Snyder.
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mizenko |first=Matthew |date=Summer 1997 |title=[Review] A Healing Family by Ο̄e Kenzaburο̄ and Stephen Snyder |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2385576 |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=266–268 |doi=10.2307/2385576 |jstor=2385576|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 1999
| 宙返り<br />''Chūgaeri''
| ''[[Somersault (novel)|Somersault]]''
|Translated by Philip Gabriel
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Minor |first=Kyle |date=Summer 2003 |title=[Review] Somersault by Kenzaburo Oe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4614535 |journal=The Antioch Review |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=582–583 |doi=10.2307/4614535 |jstor=4614535|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|-
| 2000
| 取り替え子 (チェンジリング)<br />''Torikae ko (Chenjiringu)''
| ''[[The Changeling (Ōe novel)|The Changeling]]''
| Translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm
|<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tayler |first=Christopher |date=12 June 2010 |title=[Review] The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/12/the-changeling-kenzaburo-oe-review |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 2001
| 「自分の木」の下で<br />'' 'Jibun no ki' no shita de''
| ''Under One's Own Tree''
| 16 essays reflecting on Ōe's childhood and experience as a novelist and father
|<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ashby |first=Janet |date=14 October 2001 |title=Kenzaburo Oe: Bridging the generation gap |work=The Japan Times |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2001/10/14/books/book-reviews/kenzaburo-oe-bridging-the-generation-gap/ |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 2002
| 憂い顔の童子<br />''Urei gao no dōji''
| ''Gloomy Faced Child''
|Novel
|<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bantarō |first1=Seiro |last2=Prichard |first2=Franz |date=December 2006 |title=Modern Japanese Literature and 'Don Quixote' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42800231 |journal=Review of Japanese Culture and Society |volume=18 |pages=132–146 |jstor=42800231}}</ref>
|-
| 2007
| 臈たしアナベル・リイ 総毛立ちつ身まかりつ<br />''Rōtashi Anaberu Rī sōkedachitsu mimakaritsu''
| ''[[The Beautiful Annabel Lee was Chilled and Killed]]''
|Winner of the 2008 Weishanhu Award for Best Foreign Novel in the 21st Century.
|<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jing |first=Xiaolei |date=13 February 2009 |title=Embracing Foreign Literature |work=Beijing Review |url=http://www.bjreview.com/nation/txt/2009-02/13/content_178235.htm |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 2009
| 水死<br />''Sui shi''
| ''[[Death by Water (novel)|Death by Water]]''
| Translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm
|<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hong |first=Terry |date=6 October 2015 |title='Death by Water' takes readers on a wild ride of epic proportions |work=The Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2015/1006/Death-by-Water-takes-readers-on-a-wild-ride-of-epic-proportions |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>
|-
| 2013
| 晩年様式集(イン・レイト・スタイル)<br />''Bannen Yōshiki shū (In Reito Sutairu) ''
| ''In Late Style''
| Final work. Title is a reference to [[Edward Said]]'s ''On Late Style''.
|<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pons |first=Philippe |date=21 May 2015 |title=Kenzaburô Oe : " L'âge n'apporte pas la sérénité " |language=fr |work=[[Le Monde]] |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2015/05/23/l-age-n-apporte-pas-la-serenite_4639157_3246.html |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref>
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Japan|Biography|Novels}}
* [[List of Japanese Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Tokyo]]
* [[Anti-nuclear power movement in Japan]]
* [[Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma]]
* [[Anarchism in Japan]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
* Ōe, Kenzaburō. (1968). ''Ōe Kenzaburō Zensakuhin'' (''Complete Works of Oe Kenzaburo'').Tokyo: [[Shinchosha]].
* _____________. (1978). ''Shosetsu no hoho'' (''The Method of a Novel''). Tokyo: [[Iwanami Shoten Publishing|Iwanami]].
* Wilson, Michiko N. (1986). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2jhGkLyWN8cC&q=he+Marginal+World+of+%C5%8Ce+Kenzabur%C5%8D:+A+Study+in+Themes+and+Techniques++ISBN ''The Marginal World of Ōe Kenzaburō: A Study in Themes and Techniques.''] Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe. {{ISBN|978-0-87332-343-7}} (cloth) {{ISBN|978-1-56324-580-0}} (paper)
* Oe, K. (2007, Winter). The Art of Fiction No. 195 [Interview by S. Fay]. Retrieved 23 April 2019, from <nowiki>https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5816/kenzaburo-oe-the-art-of-fiction-no-195-kenzaburo-oe</nowiki>
* {{cite journal | last1=Kenzaburō | first1=Ōe | last2=Chomsky | first2=Noam | title=An Exchange on Current Affairs | journal=World Literature Today | publisher=University of Oklahoma Board of Regents | volume=76 | issue=2 | year=2002 | issn=0196-3570 | doi=10.2307/40157257 | page=29| jstor=40157257 }}

==Further reading==
* Kimura, Akio. (2007) ''Faulkner and Oe: The Self-Critical Imagination''. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
* Rapp, Rayne and Faye Ginsburg. "[https://files.nyu.edu/fg4/public/pdfs/Rapp%20Ginsburg%20-%20Enabling%20Disability.pdf Enabling Disability: Rewriting Kinship, Reimagining Citizenship]." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035531/https://files.nyu.edu/fg4/public/pdfs/Rapp%20Ginsburg%20-%20Enabling%20Disability.pdf Archive]) ''[[Public Culture]]''. Volume 13, Issue 3. pp.&nbsp;533–556.
* Ueda, Hozumi (上田 穗積 ''Ueda Hozumi''). "[http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/40019369258 Mice and Elephants, or Forests and Prairies : A Comparison of Ohe Kenzaburoh and Murakami Haruki]" (鼠と象、あるいは森と平原 : 大江健三郎と村上春樹) {{in lang|ja}} [[National Institute of Informatics]] (NII) Article ID (NAID) :40019369258. NII NACSIS-CAT ID (NCID) :AN10074725. {{ISSN|0910-3430}}. Journal Type :大学紀要. NDL Article ID :023863147. NDL Source Classification :ZV1(一般学術誌—一般学術誌・大学紀要). NDL Call No. :Z22-1315. Databases : NDL
* Wilson, Michiko N. (2007). ″Kenzaburo Ôe: Laughing Prophet and Soulful Healer,″ on the official Nobel Foundation Website, [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1994/oe-article.html The Nobel Prize in Literature 1994]

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
* [http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=91 List of Works]
* [[Kenzaburō Ōe Prize]]

{{Kenzaburō Ōe}}
{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1994 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Japanese Nobel laureates}}
{{Akutagawa Prize winners}}
{{Mondello Prize}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oe, Kenzaburo}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century Japanese novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Japanese male novelists]]
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[[Category:21st-century Japanese male novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Japanese short story writers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin]]
[[Category:Akutagawa Prize winners]]
[[Category:Battle of Okinawa]]
[[Category:Existentialists]]
[[Category:Japanese anarchists]]
[[Category:Japanese anti–nuclear power activists]]
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[[Category:Japanese essayists]]
[[Category:Japanese male short story writers]]
[[Category:Japanese Nobel laureates]]
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[[Category:Magical realism writers]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:People from Ehime Prefecture]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
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